Four Disabled People Found Locked In Dungeon

Shocking pictures have emerged of the squalid and filthy conditions in which four mentally disabled people were apparently forced to live after being locked up in a basement.

One of the victims was found chained to a radiator and there was just a bucket for the group to urinate in, said police in Philadelphia, who compared the small boiler room to a "dungeon".

The 10ft by 15ft space contained a mattress with some bedding and a flat board with a pillow. There were a couple of water bottles but no food, officers added.

The four victims, three men and a woman aged between 29 and 41, were found on Saturday by the building's landlord, who said tenants had complained of suspicious people entering and leaving the building.

Turgut Gozleveli heard dogs barking when he was in the basement, where he kept his tools, and found a chain on a door to another room.

The 71-year-old shined a torch behind the door and discovered the four people and also three dogs.

He said: "I asked them what they are doing here, and how they got in. There was no communication. I asked questions and I didn't get any answers."

He said he freed the chained man and then called the police. "He was just watching me when I cut the chain."

The area was too small for an adult to stand up straight and reeked of human waste from the bucket the victims used to relieve themselves, according to officers.

All four are said to have the mental capacity of 10-year-olds, making it difficult for authorities to identify them and notify their families.

Malnourished, they have been taken to a shelter where they are receiving counselling and care.

Three people have been accused of locking them up so they could receive their disability benefits.

One of the trio, the suspected ringleader and convicted murderer Linda Weston, is alleged to have pretended to be the victims' carer in order to carry out the claimed fraud.

She may have also victimised dozens of other people, police said, as she had ID records for up to 50 people, including power of attorney paper work, and social security numbers, when she was arrested.

Weston's son and daughter lived in the building where the four were found. The pair have been co-operating with police and have not been charged.

The three defendants have been charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and other related offences. Bail was set at \$2.5m (£1.6m) but none of them posted it.

Weston, 50, will appear in court on Thursday. She was helped by homeless man Eddie Wright, 51, and 48-year-old Philadelphia resident Gregory Thomas, police said.

Sergeant Joseph Green said Weston may have others in captivity but she was not co-operating with the investigation.

At least two of the four victims in Philadelphia had travelled with Weston as she moved from city to city in Texas and Florida, Sgt Green said.

The other two had been with Weston since February and all of them arrived in Philadelphia earlier this month, he added.

Three of the alleged victims, who have been named as Tamara Breeden, Derwin McLemire and Herbert Knowles, said they were abused by Weston and two others while in her care for the last year.

Breeden said she was hit on her head and showed KYW-TV where she said her teeth were knocked out.

McLemire claimed he met Weston through an online dating service and tried to escape but did not get away "so they got" him.

Knowles, who had been found shackled to the boiler, said he was hit by one of the two arrested men.

Breeden had apparently been reported missing in 2005, but the case closed by police even though she had not been found.